Julian Kain and his son Henry Kain, 3, look at animal figures constructed out of HyPars on Sunday at the Rocky Mountain STEAM Fest at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont. More photos: dailycamera.com. (Autumn Parry / Daily Camera)

Using raw spaghetti noodles and tape, family teams were tasked with building the tallest tower that would support a single marshmallow on top.

With a lot of trial-and-error, most came up with spindly towers that were more-or-less self supporting, some with tape made into feet for added stability.

The marshmallow challenge was held Sunday afternoon near the end of the two-day Rocky Mountain STEAM Fest at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont.

"I liked learning about technology, and I liked all the fun activities," said 9-year-old Amber Cleary, who built a marshmallow tower with her twin sister, Jasmine. "It's so much fun because you actually get to be in the event doing everything, not just watching it."

Artist Judy Batty shows Julie Layne and her children Felicia Layne, 6, and Corwin Layne, 3, how to glue pieces of glass to create a mosaic on Sunday during the Rocky Mountain STEAM Fest at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont. More photos: dailycamera.com. (Autumn Parry / Daily Camera)

The annual event, attended by about 4,500 people over the weekend, was presented by Maker Bolder. The next STEAM Fest is set for April 2017.

"The objective is for people of all ages to have a hands-on learning experience," said Martha Lanaghen, Maker Bolder's executive director. "Every booth has something you can touch and interact with."

Along with an exhibition hall filled with hands-on activities from exhibitors. plus larger-scale activities housed in one of the barns, the event included emergency crew mock rescues, workshops and speakers.

Speakers included author Tony Wagner, who talked about "Creating Innovators;" the Colorado Department of Education's Gretchen Morgan, who talked about the future of education; and employees from local company SparkFun gave a presentation on autonomous vehicles.

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The exhibits ran the gamut from drones and robots to art projects.

Participants could build wind cars using pipes and garbage bags or play human Minecraft by building with a mass of small cardboard cubes.

Volunteering at the Minecraft station was 12-year-old Cassidy Recker, who found out about the event through a coding club at the Boulder Public Library.

"It's very, very fun," she said. "Sometimes kids don't get the opportunity to experience this kind of thing in their everyday lives. You get to build all kinds of things."

Kristin Boes helps Maddock Myers, 2, sift through dirt to discover rocks while visiting the Game of Stones booth on Sunday at the Rocky Mountain STEAM Fest at the Boulder County Fairgrounds in Longmont. More photos: dailycamera.com. (Autumn Parry / Daily Camera)

Participants also could make a tiny trebuchet from toothpicks and rubber bands, then use it to launch gum into a bucket. Or they could use tubes and other large found objects to build giant Rube Goldberg machines.

"It's a good environment for girls to feel included," said Berthoud's Stephanie Horvath, who brought her 13-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter. "We love that it fosters the idea that it's OK to love science and build robots and be creative."

Added her daughter, Kaitlin, "It's fun to get to experiment."

On the arts side,

The Boulder Modern Quilt Guild brought fabric scraps and sewing machines, with kids invited to design and sew quilt squares. Squares could be taken home or donated to be used in a quilt that will be donated to Children's Hospital Colorado.

"It's been so much fun," said Cynthia Morgan, the guild president. "We have kids coming back to make more squares."

Arts Longmont also brought in local artists, from a DJ to a glass artist, to demonstrate their crafts. The glass artist, Judy Batty, set up a community mosaic art project using little squares of scrap glass.

"Science is great but, without the art component, it's missing something," she said. "It becomes better with art."

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